Loom shuttle



Nov. 30, 1943. w. P. ELLlS LOOM SHUTTLE Filed De c. 9, 1

4,8 ,6 WHWIIHI @230 INVENTOR.

WILLIAM P. ELLIS m ag.

A TTORNE Y Patented Nov. 30, 1943 LOOM SHUTTLE William P. Ellis, Decatur, Ga., assignor to Draper Corporation, Hopedale, Mass, a corporation of Maine Application December 9, 1942, Serial No. 468,392

4 Claims.

The present invention relates generally to automatically threading loom shuttles and as illustrated herein relates more particularly to threading devices for such shuttles.

Shuttles of the type above referred to comprise a shuttle body carrying an automatically replaceable filling carrier, a side delivery eye, and a threading block having a horn for guiding the filling into the side delivery eye during the first two picks after transfer of a filling carrier. On subsequent picks, shuttles of this type may become partially or completely unthreaded due to looping or overthrowing of the filling when the shuttle is arrested at the end of it fiight. As a result, the filling thread will sometimes be looped about or caught by the threading block and will be broken on the next pick.

One object of the present invention is to provide a threading block with means located in the thread passage for preventing the looped or overthrown filling from unthreading the shuttle. To this end, the threading block is provided with means for resiliently urging a portion of a thread guiding device against the bottom of the thread passage to hold a filling thread located between the bottom of the passage and said portion of the casting device against displacement due to looping or overthrowing of the filling thread. As illustrated, the guiding device is pivotally mounted in a slot formed in the floor of the thread passage and resilient means in the form of a block of soft rubber urges the thread guiding device in a direction to hold the nose of the casting device against the bottom of the thread passage.

With the above and other objects and features in view, the invention will now be described with particular reference to the accompanying drawing which illustrates a preferred embodiment of the invention and in which:

Fig. l is a plan view of the thread delivery end of a shuttle illustratin a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a View in front elevation of the shuttle shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional view taken along line III-III of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a View on a somewhat enlarged scale in end elevation of the threading block; and

Fig. 5 is a view, in front elevation partly in section, of the threading block shown in Fig. 4.

The shuttle shown in the drawing comprises a shuttle body having a longitudinally extending cavity l2 which receives a filling carrier, such for example as a bobbin M. The filling carrier is releasably held in the shuttle body and is arranged to be automatically replaced by a full bobbin whenever the filling supply on the bobbin becomes substantially exhausted, as is well known in the art.

The threading device or block It is fixed in a recess [8 in the shuttle body by a screw 26. The threading block It has a longitudinally extending thread passage which is alined with the bobbin cavity l2. The thread passag is defined in part by the walls of the recess I8 and in part by the floor 22 and the front and rear walls 24 and 26 of the threading block. The threading block has a horn 30 which projects from the front wall 24 outwardly and rearwardly above the thread passage. The shuttle body It is provided with a longitudinal outwardly extending groove 32 and is approximately in alinement with the recess [8 and the thread passage and communicates directly therewith.

The threading block [6 is also provided with a guide 34, which, as illustrated herein, is mounted in a substantially vertical slot 36 extending longitudinally of the threading block it through the floor 22 thereof. The slot 35 is substantially wider than the thickness of the vertical portion 38 of the guide so that the guide 34 is free to move in the slot 3% The guide 34 is provided with a circular opening for loosely receiving the shank of the screw 2b which holds the threading block I6 in the shuttle body. The bottom of the cavity I8 is provided with a shallow longitudinal slot or recess 40 which is located below the slot 36 and permits limited radial movement of the guide 34 about the screw 2!).

The guide 34 is normally maintained in the position shown in Fig. 3 by a resilient pad or cushion 42 which biases the guide in a clockwise direction and presses the nose M of the guide against the bottom of the thread passage in the threading block H3. The pad 42 is preferably formed of soft sponge rubber but it is apparent that it may be formed of any other suitable material. The pad 42 acts on the guide 34 to cause the guide to press the filling thread against the floor 22 thus tensioning the filling thread as it passes through the threading block. The sponge rubber pad 42 normally maintains the guide 34 in the position shown in Fig. 3 but, when the filling thread is under tension, the pad 42 is sufficiently resilient to permit the guide 34 to rotate in a counterclockwise direction into the position shown in Fig. 5. Under most conditions of operation, however, the tension on the filling thread 46 is sufiicient merely to lift the nose A4 of the guide slightly out of contact with the floor 22 Winds from the filling carrier or bobbin I4 and as it unwinds it engages tension devices, such for example as bristles 48 which extend into the cavity l2 and engage the end of the bobbin I4. Thus sufiicient tension is produced to cause the filling to become threaded down into the thread passage and under the horn 9B. The tension on the filling thread is also sufficient during the threading operation to slightly displace the guide 34 and to rotate it in a counterclockwise direction so that the filling thread is located between the nose 44 and the floor 22 of the threading block [6. During the second pick, the filling thread passes beneath a hook 50 and into the side delivery eye 52. The shuttle is then completely threaded.

By the use of the above construction, unthreading of the shuttle is prevented on subsequent picks due to looping or overthrowing of the filling thread when the shuttle is arrested at the end of its flight thus avoiding breakage of the filling thread. At the same time, the filling thread is maintained under a uniform tension during weaving.

Having thus described my invention what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. In an automatically threading loom shuttle, a threading block having a longitudinally extending thread passage, a thread guiding device mounted for pivotal movement in said passage, and resilient means for moving said device about its pivot to cause a portion of said device to move toward the bottom of said passage to engage a filling thread guided into position below said portion to hold said filling thread in said position against displacement by looping of said filling thread.

2. In an automatically threading loom shuttle, a threading block having a longitudinally extending thread passage, a thread guiding device having a guiding portion in said passage and a depending portion pivotally supported in a slot in the bottom of said passage, and resilient means engaging said depending portion and normally maintaining said guiding portion in engagement with said bottom, said resilient mean being arranged to yield to permit a filling thread to enter beneath the engaged portion of said guiding, thereby applying pressure to said thread to prevent accidental displacement thereof.

3. In an automatically threading loom shuttle, a shuttle body having a threading block receiving recess, a threading block in said recess and having a longitudinally extending thread passage, a thread guiding device having a thread guiding portion in said passage and a depending portion pivotally mounted in a slot in the bottom of said passage, and resilient means located between the bottom of the recess and the bottom of said threading block for urging the guiding portion of the guiding device into contact with the bottom of the thread passage, said resilient means being arranged to yield to permit said guiding portion to move out of contact with the bottom of said thread passage to permit a filling thread to enter therebetween as the shuttle is being threaded.

4. In an automatically threading loom shuttle, a shuttle body having a threading block receiving recess, a threading block in said recess and having a longitudinally extending thread passage, a thread guiding device having a thread guiding portion in said passage and a depending portion pivotally mounted in a slot in the bottom of said passage, and a rubber member projecting upwardly above the bottom surface of said threading block recess for urging the guiding portion of said guiding device into contact with the bottom of the thread passage, said resilient means being arranged to yield to permit said guiding portion to move out of contact with the bottom of said thread passage to permit a filling thread to enter therebetween as the shuttle is being threaded.

WILLIAM P. ELLIS. 

